Reel Injun: The Distortion Of Native American Life

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The film, “Reel Injun” reveals a distortion of the way Hollywood sees Native American life through comedy and the real way Native Americans live which changes according to the current times. Dozens of films recreate the way Americans believe Natives live as savages and wear costumes decorated with feathers, but Hollywood does not show the true spiritual side and the meaning of why they live the way they do. US history negatively affect Native American live which lead to the image of Natives to be clouded by imagination through film, changed the way Natives viewed themselves and expect to live, and misshaped the view we have about Natives.
Over the course of the film, clips of many western movies play which show parts of Native Americans …show more content…

One of the Natives says “We’re Indians watching Indians on tv,” which seems surreal because it is not how they live as savages. Over time these real Indians start to believe that what films show is their reality because aside from the stories they hear, seeing it shows a new perspective and changes their views on how their ancestors lived. It changes their views as in they believe they must all be these tough men who are masters of horseback riding, when they do not even own a horse. So it becomes a race to save the image or prove themselves that they have of their own culture in their own land, which is harder once civilizations grow and forget that Natives too are humans. John Trudell explains, “We're too busy trying to protect the idea of a Native American or an Indian - but we're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people. We're the human beings.” Moreover, Native Americans believe in the great spirits of their ancestors and how nature is one with humans, but the sacred lands of where their ancestors fought for freedom and died, become forgotten by erasing the memory Americans have about the battles. The Battle of Little Bigfoot and The Battle of Wounded Knee is very much alive for the Natives in the film, there is a deep respect for their ancestors, but the memory of their ancestors only lives in them. “We'll never be able to …show more content…

Their history is no longer about their teachings or the oral stories told for years, but now it becomes a show to about how they dressed. Native life is very much alive, it is not considered just history but lives in the lives of their descendants, the Native Americans which have become forgotten. Furthermore, in the film there is an uprise of Hippies that use headbands and live as free spirits like the Natives, but the Natives explain that they never used headbands or live freely. “Spiritual, noble and free has captured the imagination of Americans,” is expressed in the Reel Injun to interpret the characteristics we have deemed over “indians.” In particular, the movie Pocahontas is the first modern animation we see as a representation of Native America. It is presented as a glimpse of history and a mockery to Indian life. From the beginning, it details the love story between Pocahontas and John Smith, but Pocahontas was not the woman we see in real life, she was about 9 years old when they first encounter each other. Society deems this movie to be a creation of what life was for the Natives, but now society says “Natives aren’t true Americans.” Comments and movies as such affect Natives and their image, because people like Russell Means suffered consequences when white boys would encounter them. “And all of a sudden we'd hear,

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